Starship Galactica
by Redshirt51
Summary: A project I thought of a few months ago. Captain Adama is about to retire. But when the Dominion launches an attack on the alpha quadrant, Adama must reactivate the Starship Galactica and fight a battle that will decide the fate of entire civilizations.
1. Chapter 1

_"What if push comes to shove? What If something disastrous happened to the federation, if we were frightened enough or desperate enough, how would we react? Would we stay true to our ideals? Or would we end up right back were we started?" : (Julian Bashir, 2024)_

Deep in the delta Quadrant, an facility orbited the bajoran wormhole. It's primary purpose was as a diplomatic center for both the gamma and alpha quadrant. Soon a federation shuttle craft carrying federation representative ambassador Spock approached the station. Mr. Spock maneuvered the ship to orbit the tiny space station on auto pilot. The. When ready he used the ships matter transporting device to teleport to the station. He took his seat at a large table in the conference room and waited for the dominion representatives to come.

Since the dominion war, the federation were insistent on maintaining diplomatic relations with the dominion. With the help of the shapeshifter Odo and his female mate, Starfleet maintained friendly contact with the dominion on a regular basis. This meting was one of many before. Spock had no reason to suspect danger. He came to know Mr Odo quite well and together along with the female changeling, the had developed a strong bond between the federation leaders and the founders, the changeling leaders of the Dominion.

Spock pondered this through his brain as a beam of light engulfed the room and two jem'hadar solders reamaterialized into the room.

"Standard proceeder." Spock thought. The jem'hadar were the genetically enhanced solders of the dominion. They were also very protective of the changeling leaders and would often put their own lives in jeopardy to protect and serve them.

Another beam of light emerged. When it died down, Spock expected to see Odo but instead of a changeling a young woman in a red dress appeared.

"Who are you?" Spock asked. He was expecting Odo or the female changeling to be there. It wasn't logical for the dominion to change their representatives when they were making significant progress in the negotiations. Unless the woman was Odo in a different form. But that wasn't logical ether. Odo knew better than to indulge in practices of humor with Spock. And he had no other reason to tack a new form. So who was the woman in the red dress?

She approached Spock and walked to his side of the table.

"Are you alive?" She asked in a soothing voice.

"You have not answered my question. Who are you?"

"Are you alive?" She repeated.

Spock finally decided to indulge her.

"Yes."

"Prove it."

Suddenly she embraced Spock and kissed him full on the lips. Spock was so surprised it took him a second to register the event and pull the woman away.

"This is not logical." Spock said.

"Forget logic, only passion." She said and began to kiss him again.

Outside, the shadow of a jem'hadar battleship fell upon the station like a vulture. Suddenly, two white torpedoes were released from the ships weapons bay. The first torpedo impacted against the lower sections of the station causing sever damage. Inside the station, Spock heard the explosions from below and taped his Starfleet com badge.

"Spock to runabout Rio grand. One to beam out." He said. But the transporter on the shuttle didn't energize.

"It has begun." The woman said.

Outside, the second torpedo hit the inhabited section, causing a massive explosion that tore the station In half. Sending debris in all directions.

Several Kilometers away, the runabout the Spock traveled in detected the explosion. An emergency automated program in the computer activated, ordering the auto pilot to set a coarse through the wormhole to the Alpha Quadrant so it could send a distress call to Starfleet command.

The Rio Grand would never make it in time.

**(Que bsg mini series opening music)**

Vessel: federation starship USS Galactica. Ambassador class

Earth date: April 24, 2395

Location: Sector 009 near Romulan space

Mission: finish patrol of Romulan border and return to sector 001 for decommissioning of the USS Galactica at Mars fleet shipyards.

Commanding officer: Captain William Adama

Executive officer: Commander Saul Tigh

**6 light years from earth, T minus: 2 hours.**

A beep from his communications badge interrupted captain Adama's log. He taped the badge to respond in his old creaky voice. "This is the captain, go ahead."

The voice of a young man answered. "Captain Adama, the s.s. Antares just dropped out of warp. They have the secretary of education Lara Roslyn on board. She's here to see the ship."

"Very well. Have her meet me in transporter room one."

Just a few minutes later, the captan was in his red starfleet uniform. He walked out his room and down the hallway were he was joined by his first officer Saul Tigh. Tigh was much taller than Adama so whenever he looked to the commander he always had to look up to face him.

"So what's the big news?" The commander asked as they entered the transporter room.

"The secretary of education is here to visit our starship to make certain that it is worthy of public viewing."

"Of corse, if chief engineer Tyrol doesn't clean up the mess he made on deck 10 with the power grid then this old bucket won't be worthy of any viewing, public or otherwise." Tigh said.

"The kid's good at his job. He'll get it done."

"Well, maybe your right."

Adama looked towards his old friend.

"Didn't know you to be that positive before?"

"What can I say, I'm in a good mood today."

"Now there's a surprise." Adama said with a chuckle.

"Sirs, the Antares is ready to transport secretary Lara Roslin." The transporter chief interrupted.

"Very well then, energize." Adama said.

The transporter operator pushed several buttons on the old analog controls. Immediately two of the six transporter pads lit up with a bright flash of light that formed into human bodes and died down. A middle aged woman in a starfleet civilian uniform was now standing at the pad. Next to her was a young man in a business uniform. The woman walked slowly off and faced the two officers. The captain raised his hand and saluted her.

"Secretary Roslyn. Captain William Adama. This is my first officer commander Tigh. I would like to officially welcome you to the starship Galactica."

The woman gave a small smile. "Thank you captain. It's an honer to be on this fine vessel you have. This is my cheif of staff, Billy Keikeya."

The young man waved a bit.

"It's a privilege to be here captain." He said.

"And an honor" Lara said.

"The honor is mine. If you will fallow me I can give you a tour of the ship as well as the parts we are converting for the museum."

"Thank you again. I would like that very much."

I'll just stay here and wait if that's fine with you madam." Billy said.

"Ok. Don't get lonely." Roslyn said as she and Adama left the room while the commander left for the bridge.

**T minus: 10 minutes**

Captain Adama and Roslyn when to engineering first, where the captain showed her the warp core and other vital systems of the ship. Then they visited the secondary shuttle bay were the museum would be. On their way back to the transporter room they bumped into chief Tyrol who was still fixing power relays.

"Chief." Adama said. Chief Galen Tyrol stood up strait and saluted the captain.

"As you were chief." He said.

"Power relay is almost ready sir. Sorry about the screw up yesterday."

"No need to apologize chief." Roslyn said. The chief was quiet for a moment.

"Oh, let me introduce myself. I'm Lara Roslyn." She said shaking his hand.

The young man reached out and accepted the greeting. "Galen Tyrol, chief engineer."

"A pleasure to meet you." She said."

"Tyrol is my best engineer, his expertise is unmatched on this ship." Adama said. "But even he is only human."

"So say we all." Tyrol said. Roslyn looked at him funny.

"I beg your pardon." She said

"It's a catch phrase we use on the ship. We all say it once in awhile." Cheif Tyrol stated.

"I like it. It's catchy." Roslin said with a smile.

"So say we all." Adama said.

Roslin held back a slight giggle. The captain finally motioned them to the transporter room.

"After you." He said. Roslin went ahead and together they walked to the transporter.

**Earth orbit 0 hour**

The USS Repulse and her Excelsior class sister ships Rode island and Hood were flying in formation in on standard patrol rounds. In command was young captain Brody Dean. As they were passing over the African continent of earth one of the bridge personnel called out.

"Captain, I'm detecting large amounts of nutrino emissions bering 005 mark 2." The ensign said.

"Do we have a visual?" The captain asked.

"Yes sir."

"Very well. On screen." He said in a commanding tone.

The screen in the front of the bridge lit up showing the crew the outside space and the blue planet below. At first all seemed normal, until suddenly a white light appeared above the planet. Emerging from the white light came hundreds of Dominion jem'hadar ships of various sizes. The largest one leading the fleet was a enormous battleship over 1,500 meters in length. Surrounding it were hundreds of moderate sized crushers and smaller, faster attack ships. The cruisers hovered in orbit like massive rain clouds in monsoon season. The attack ships remained in formation in front of their larger cousins.

Everyone watched as the fleet of ships turned into an attack posture.

"Sir! They've locked weapons on us!" The ensign yelled from his consul.

"Red alert! Shields up!" The captain barked.

As he said this, a massive explosion rocked the ship. People were knocked out their chairs to the floor. Sparks and fires were blazing from several of the computer screens as people rushed to safety. Captain Brody managed to crawl back onto his chair and resume command.

"Report?!" He yelled. One officer had also got back on his feet and reported in.

"Shields down to 30%! We've go damage from decks eight through eleven!"

"Bring the weapons online and return fire!"

But before the federation ships could fire a shot, the jem'hadar attack ships emitted strange looking beams that impacted against the hulls of the starfleet ships. Suddenly the lights of all three ships went out.

"Sir, we've suffered a ship wide main power loss! I don't understand how they did it, but we've **lost** weapons, shields, and engines!"

"Can you reroute power from the reserves to Shields and weapons?" The captain asked the officer.

"No sir! We don't have enough power in the reserves!"

"What about communications?"

"I think so. Stand by." He said. After several moments the officer called out again. "Got it! Communications are partially operational."

"Open a channel to Starfleet headquarters!"

"Channel open. Sir."

"Starfleet command, Repulse! We've got multiple jem'hadar vessels, lower orbit, over grid 15-2! The have opened fired on us! We need reinforcements!"

_"Starfleet command. No contact Repulse."_

'Seriously!' He thought to himself. 'How could they not see this?!'

"Then go to your window and look up! They're big as asteroids!"

_"Copy, Repulse. Still blind. Got some kind of system-wide power loss in the main computer grid"_

The captain slammed his fist into the armrest with frustration. "Try to unscrew yourself right now, 'cause you've got multiple inbound, and they're not carrying flowers!"

_"Wait one, Repulse!"_

"We don't have one left!" The captain screamed. Seconds later, another explosion rocked the ship. Captain Brody was tossed out of his chair to the floor again.

He looked up at the view-screen and saw the battleship and dozens of cruisers began launching powerful tricobalt explosives at the surface of Earth.

"Lisa no! LISA!" He cried in vain. Thinking of his wife who was visiting San Francisco for the weekend. By now she was most likely dead. Seconds later a torpedo for one of the attack ships blasted through the center of Repulses' saucer section, destroying the bridge.

**T plus 10 minuets**

"Bridge to captan Adama."

The message awakened the old captain from his slumber as he tapped his com badge.

"Adama here. What is it?" He asked.

"Sir, we just received a priority one message from earth. It was transmitted in the clear."

"In the clear?" Adama said, confused. "What does it say?" He asked.

"It says:Attention all Starfleet personnel, Dominion attack underway. This is no drill."

"I'm on my way." He said. His voice didn't show it but he was gravely concern.

Commander Saul Tigh was awakened to the sound of red flashing lights and alarms.

"A red alert?" He said to himself. He quickly got dressed in his red command uniform and made his way to the bridge. When he arrived he could feel the atmosphere of tension as everyone reported to their post.

"What do we have?" He asked. Captain Adama handed him an information PAD with a grave look on his face.

When the commander looked at it, he couldn't help but laugh at how unlikely the report was. "This is a joke. The fleets pulling a retirement prank on you Bill, come on."

"I don't think so." Adama said.

The captain turned to one of the bridge officers. "Connect me to the ship. I need to speak to the crew."

The officer obliged and tapped several commands into his console. Allowing the captain to speak to the crew.

"This is the captain to all hands. Moments ago this ship received word of a Dominion attack against the Alpha and Beta quadrants is underway. We do not know the size, strength, or displacement of the enemy forces. But all indications point toward a massive assault against federation defenses in the region surrounding sector 001 as well as attacks taking place in territories of the Romulan star empire, the Klingon empire, and the Cardassian union.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard has taken personal command of the fleet aboard the USS Enterprise fallowing the complete destruction of Starfleet headquarters in the opening wave of the attacks. How? why? Doesn't really matter now. What does matter is that as of this moment, we are at war! You've trained for this. Your ready for this. Stand to your duties. Trust in your shipmates and we will get out of this situation alive. Further updates will be available as we get them. Adama out."

After Adama finished his speech, he turned towards the tactical officer Felix Gaeta. "Mr Gaeta, I want you to report to the astrometrics lab and begin a plot of all vessels in the surrounding sectors, friendly or otherwise. Then route the information back here."

"Yes sir." The young officer said before walking to the turbo lift.

Next, the captain turned to Ensign Anastasia Dualla. The ships operations officer. "Dee. Contact the brig. Tell them to release lieutenant Kara Thrace from custody." He said.

"Yes sir." She said.

Commander Tigh was clearly uncomfortable with this order since the reason Kara Thrace was in the brig in the first place was because she punched the commander during a poker match.

"You sure about this Bill?" He said.

"We're about to head into a war zone and I need my helm officer for something important." The captain said before turning to Saul. "As for you, we need weapons if we're going to be any use to the fleet. I want you to check the nearby armories and space stations to see if they have the equipment to restore our type IX phasers or have any photon torpedoes."

"I'll get started." The commander said.

**4,000,000 kilometers from earth. T plus 20 minutes**

"This is runabout Colorado to Starfleet command, please respond." lieutenant Karol Agathon repeated over the com link. Still no response.

Lieutenant Agathon was on his way to earth to be transferred to the USS Lexington along with his friend lieutenant Sharon Valerii when their shuttle received word of an Dominion attack on the federation. Now he had lost all contact with Starfleet HQ on earth. The news had shaken Sharon up the worst as she struggled not to throw up.

"Hey. Are you ok?" He asked her with concern.

"It's ok, I'll be fine." She lied.

"Let me get something to calm you down." He said and made his way to the rear cabin were the med kit was kept. He came back with a hypo spray and administered the medication.

"Feel better?" He asked.

She silently nodded and took a deep breath. Then one of the computer screens started to beep.

"Sensors are detecting six vessels directly ahead!" She said.

"Great. company."

"Wait, I'm picking up federation signals. Their on our side! Six Starfleet Peregrine fighters dead ahead!"

"Well what are we waiting for? Hail them." He said.

"Starfleet fighters. This is Lieutenant Agathon and lieutenant Sharon Valerii of runabout Colorado. Do you read me!"

A ruff ferengi voice finally come over the speakers.

_"Captain Nog to Lieutenant Agathon. This is support squadron omega. I have you in sight. Come about 30 degrees."_

Relieved to here a friendly voice, Helo began asking questions.

"Captain Nog, do you know anything about the Dominion attack?"

_"Not much you don't already know. They hit us without warning or provocation and Starfleet is losing control of the Sol system. The Klingons and Romulans are experiencing similar attacks in their space. My squadron has orders to escort all incoming air traffic in the solar system to safety."_

"Understood captain. Anything we can do to help?"

"Actually you can use your long range sensors to help us find stranded ships." The fighter pilot said.

"Affirmative. We'll get right on it."

"Contacts! Two jem'hadar ships approaching bering 3-0-5 mark 4!"

"Roger Lieutenant. We see them too. I want you to stay back and let us handle them. We'll come for you when it's safe.

Adama, Tigh and Gaeta were reviewing a tactical map of the earth solar system on the bridge.

"Ok, it looks like a majority of the fighting is taking place here near Venus's orbit." Mr. Gaeta said.

"If Galactica makes its approach along the far side of the planet, the magnetic field should mask us from their sensors. We can come In from behind their fleet and deliver a devastating blow before they even see us coming." Adama stated.

"There are reports of a Federation task force lead by Admiral Janeway on its way to the sol system. If we join up with them and make the approach together we might be able to break the Dominion lines and drive them from the system altogether." Gaeta said.

"We'd be the heroes of the federation for the next fifty years." Tigh said with a chuckle.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. We still need weapons to fight. Mr Gaeta, how are we with tactical systems?" Adama asked the officer.

"The chief says his people can't reactivate the phaser banks with the equipment we have on board. However, I think it would be better if we just focused on trying to get a full complement of torpedoes."

"Well, as far as I can tell their isn't a single armory, starbase, or outpost that carries type IX phasers within 50 light years." Tigh said.

"Keep searching. If we don't find anything we could always barrow some torpedoes from the Janeways fleet." Adama said.

Immediately Kara Thrace entered the bridge and saluted the captan.

"lieutenant Thrace reporting for duty." She said.

"Lieutenant, as you were. Report to your station." He said

She nodded, but then stopped for a moment. "Sir, where did the Dominion come from?" She asked.

"Nothing's been confirmed, but It seems they found a way to create artificial wormholes to get their ships into the Alpha quadrant. They achieved total surprise and we're taking heavy casualties. We lost 130 starships in the opening wave of the attacks."

"That's almost a quarter of the fleet." Kara said in shock.

"Which means we need to get into the fight. Without weapons we are defenseless. So I want you to gather up as many qualified pilots as you can find on the ship and take them down to the secondary hanger. There you will find a complete squadron of Starfleet fighters that we brought for the museum. I need you to reactivate them Immediately."

Kara looked at Adama with an impressed grin. "Aye sir."

Nearby, Mr Gaeta noticed lieutenant Dualla manning the ships communication post. Most federation ships didn't have a com station due to more excessive automated systems. But Galactica was almost 70 years old and most of her equipment was as old too. So the crew had to compensate and adapt to the outdated technology. Right now Dee had the classic earpiece in her right ear and was listening to the incoming com traffic with a curious look on her face.

"Problem?" Felix asked, noticing her expression.

"I'm not sure. I've been getting strange reports of equipment malfunctions." She said.

"What's so unusually about that?"

"It's the number of malfunctions. One report stated that an entire Starship lost all power before making contact with the enemy. They said it was like someone turned off a switch."

**1,536,000 kilometers from earth. T plus 1 hour**

"Ok everyone. I know there might just be two of them but I want everyone to stay with your wingman and keep it together." Nog said to the rest of the squadron as they accelerated towards the enemy ships.

The approaching dominion ships were attack fighters. Each one looked like a beetle with an single sub light engine and a forward section for the crew. Two warp engines were attached to the side by a pair of pillions.

The ships slowly made their way through the void, as if taking their time hunting their prey. When they were close enough, the two ships activated a purple scanning beam that swept across space back and forth. When the beam made contact with his ship, Nog was surprised to see all of his instruments lose power.

"Nog to to all pilots, I've lost power. Jolly if you can hear me I need you to take the lead." He said. But there was no response. Then the dark hull of another fighter filled his window. It too was without power and drifting aimlessly. Nogs fighter slammed the side of the other ship like a pair of bumper cars.

"Nog to Lieutenant Agathon, if you can hear me the jem'hadar are using some kind of dampening field or maybe electronic jamming against us. We lost all power..."

He was interrupted by the sight of the two black ships approaching the derelict squadron. He watched as the two ship fire a barrage of glowing white torpedoes. Watched as the projectiles speed towards them. Captain Nog let out a high pitched squeal as a torpedo impacted against his defenseless ship, destroying it. One by one the other fighters were destroyed until there was nothing left but a debris field.

In the shuttle, Karol and Sharon watched helplessly as the blips on the computer screen representing the fighters disappeared completely.

"No!" Karol said in frustration.

Then the computer began to emit warning sounds indicating that the attack ships were closing on them.

"The two jem'hadar attack ships are on an intercept corse for us." He said.

"What do we do?!" She said in desperation.

"Only thing we can do. We run like hell. Get us out of here!" He said as Sharon took control of the ship and increased the impulse engines to full power. With a mighty roar, the Danube class shuttle sped away.

In the passenger section of the S.S. Antares, Lora Roslin emerged from the restroom and took a seat next to Billy. She noticed that the ships captan was standing in the hallway between the seats.

"...and that is all the information we have so far. We will be informing you on further updates as we receive them."

She looked at Billy.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"I don't know." He said.

"Can't we go any faster!" Sharon yelled out.

"I've diverted all power to the engines. This is all we're going to get." Karol responded from the pilot seat.

"What about warp drive?"

"No way. jem'hadar attack ships are twice as fast as this ship doing warp speeds." He said.

"Incoming torpedoes!"

"Now what do we do?" Karol asked himself.

"Wait! I have an idea!" Sharon said. She began typing several orders into the computer.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Programming a series of probes to emit an anti mater signal..."

"...resembling our warp signature." Karol said finishing her sentence. "Just like flares." He added.

"Exactly." She said as she imputed a final set of instructions. "Launch probe one!"

A tiny probe shot out of their underbelly into space. One of the pursuing torpedoes broke off and went after the probe. The other torpedo remand on corse.

"Launch probe two!"

The second torpedo took the bait and went after the probe. When it made contact the torpedo detonated, sending a powerful shock wave through space that hit the shuttle.

Both Starfleet officers were thrown from their seats as several consoles exploded with fire and several lights went out.

"We're hit!" Sharon called out.

"Really?!" Karol said sarcastically at Sharon for stating the obvious as he clutched his leg which had been broken by the impact.

Sharon got to the controls to inspect the damage to the ship.

"We've got a micro fracture in the impulse reactor and damage to the port warp engine. We're venting plasma!" She reported. Then she typed a set of instructions into the computer. Immediately the ships engines died down and all but the emergency lights went out.

"What are you doing?" Karol asked.

"Right now were just a target. Our only hope is to find a planet to set down and make repairs. The nearest world is earth."

"So we're cruising?"

"Best way to avoid attracting attention. We should have enough forward momentum to reach earths atmosphere. Then we power up and find a place to land."

"Great. Good thinking." Karol said still holding his leg in pain.

Outside, the small shuttle drifted through the void. As it did, it passed by the wreckage of several federation starships. In the distance was the planet earth. The shapes of several Dominion battleships were hovering over the planet and several flashes of light could be seen lighting up the North American continent.

In the bridge of Galactica, Captain Adama was addressing the crew on the latest news from Starfleet.

"Preliminary reports indicate that 30 minutes ago, a tricobalt device with a yield of 30 isotons detonated over San Francisco city. Other tricobalt detonations have been detected on the planets: Venus, Vulcan, Trill, Andoria, Romulus, Remus, Chaltok IV, Kronos, Khitomer, Archanis IV, Bajor, Coridan, and Risa. We do not know the casualty numbers, but they will be high."

In the secondary shuttle bay, Kara and Kaily were working on the fighters when they heard Adamas announcement over the intercom.

"How many people in San Francisco alone?" Kaily asked.

"50 million." Kara said.

"Morn the dead later. Right now we need to get this ship combat ready and into the fight."

How's that for part one. I know I skipped some stuff at the beginning but I honestly just wanted to get to the apocalyptic scenes and exploding crap. Reviews are appreciated and I don't own Battlestar Galactica reboot or any of the star trek franchises.


	2. Chapter 2 paradise lost

Part 2: paradise lost

Two light years from earth t plus 1 hour and 30 minutes

In the tiny bridge of the S.S. Antares, the captan and first officer were talking quietly to themselves when they hear the sound of someone knocking on the door. The captain went to answer only to find Lora Roslin standing at the door.

"Sir. One of the passengers has a sub space transmitter. That've heard a report that Earth has been attacked by the Dominion." She said.

The captain just starred at her as if to afraid to say anything.

"It has, hasn't it?" She asked, already knowing the answer.

"Earth and over a dozen other federation planets." The captains shaky voice was obvious to Lora as he handed her a data PAD containing a report. When she read it all the blood in her face drained away. The captain began to look around nervously.

"I should probably go make an announcement." He said.

"I'll do it. I'm a member of the federation counsel, it's my responsibility." Lora responded.

"Why don't you try to... Try to Contact Starfleet security and see what we can do to help." She said trying to stay calm.

...

In the main passenger cabin, Lora was addressing the news to the other passengers.

"...including the planets Earth, Venus, Andoria, Vulcan, and Coridan." She said. Immediately the passengers swamped her with questions.

"What about Bajor?! Any word about Bajor?!"

"My kids are on Mars! Is there any news from the Martian colonies?!"

"Were are we going to go now?!"

"Have you heard from the Jupiter moons?!"

Soon Laura had to start yelling over the crowd to get their attention.

"Please, everyone listen! I am trying to reach the government right now! But we are all going to have to be prepared for an extended stay on this ship. Now first off I need volunteers to help take an inventory on our supplies and emergancy rations so we know what we have to work with."

One of the passengers stood up. "What a minute. Who put you in charge?" He asked.

Roslin focus her attention on him as she answered. "That's a good question. The answer is no one. But this is still a government ship and I am the head government official so, yes. That makes me charge."

The mans face went blank.

"Why don't you do me a favor and go down to the cargo bays and help see if we can set them up as living spaces."

The man didn't respond. Instead he sat down in his seat and said nothing. Then the captain came into the room from the hallway.

"Madame Secretary. We just made contact with Earth." He said.

Roslin nodded and fallowed him to the bridge.

...

_"Thank god your not here Laura. thank god." _The voice said over the bridge loudspeaker. Static and background nose made hearing the transmission difficult at best.

_"It's awful Laura! San Francisco is on fire! All of it! Dust everywhere! Thousands of people wandering the streets!"_

"Jack. Where is the president Jack? Is he alive?" Laura asked from the communication post in the bridge as the rest of the crew listened.

_"I'm not sure. I think so. We hear all kinds of things."_ The man named Jack said.

"Has the Dominion made any demands? Do we know what they want?"

_"No. No contact. I'm sure of that much."_

Laura hesitated before asking her next question. "Has anyone thought of the possibility of surrender? Has it been considered?"

_"After Andoria was hit the president offered a complete, unconditional surrender. The Dominion didn't even respond!"_

But a beeping noise filled the cabin and the transmission was cut off.

"What is that?" Roslin asked.

The captain looked at the ship sensor readings.

"The Dominion found us. We've got long range torpedoes approaching the ship." He said.

"Quickly. Take us to warp." She ordered.

"Right away." He said as he turn to the helm officer.

"Engage at maximum warp."

The sound of the ships warp engines revving to full power filled the room for several seconds only to be interrupted by a strange noise. Instantly, the engines lost power and shut down.

"What happened?"

"Engineerings checking it now, but it looks like there was an imbalance in the warp core. It could take a few hours to fix." One of the crew members reported.

"We don't have a few hours." The captain said.

"Does this ship have shields?" Roslin asked.

"Yes, but they're very weak."

"Then we should probably brace for impact."

The captain nodded in agreement and activated the ship intercom. "This is the captain to all passengers and crew. Please get to your brace positions Immediately."

Outside the two torpedoes shrieked towards the ship. Just when it looked like they would reach their target, a series of bright phaser blasts destroyed the first torpedo. A Starfleet fighter which had just dropped out of warp came about and flew in front of the second torpedo causing the weapons guidance system to lock on to the new arrival.

The pilot of the fighter began performing evasive maneuvers as he moved to avoid the Antares taking the torpedo away from its target. When it was clear from the ship, the fighter flipped over so it was facing the torpedo and began to fire. A stream of orange energy bolts shot out of its cannons destroying the torpedo. At the same time the fighter was caught in the shock wave of the blast and lost power. On the bridge of the Antares, the crew heard a voice message from the fighter.

_"Mayday, mayday. This is lieutenant commander Lee Adama to the S.S. Antares. My ship is disabled and flight systems are offline. Need assistance." _

...

**Napa valley, California. T plus three hours**

runabout Colorado and it's pilots were siting in an open field. The smell of grapes filled the air from the nearby fields were farmers made wine. Real wine, not replicated wine that had no real alcohol. But it wasn't the smell of fresh grapes that held Lieutenant Karol Agathons attention.

In the distance the dust clouds from San Francisco and other costal city's were rising above the horizon. The more he looked at them the more he was reminded of the pictures from old history books of the mushroom shaped clouds created by nuclear explosions.

As he looked, a bright blueish light came flying down from the sky. It landed somewhere miles beyond view. Seconds later, there was a distant explosion and another dark plum of dust rose up from where the projectile landed.

"That's six!" He said to himself before turning to Sharon who was crawling in the engineering section of the ship.

"How are you coming with the reactor?" He asked.

"Just finished, we should be able to break orbit." She responded.

But Karol's attention became drawn to movement in the distance. He left the support of the ships hull and began limping towards the anomaly. It didn't take long for him to see what it was.

"Sharon. Get you phaser, now!" He said.

Sharon heard the serious tone in his voice and came out to see.

"What is it Karol?" She asked. But then she saw it to and pulled out her phaser pistol from her yellow and black uniform.

On the other side of the field was a crowd of about a hundred people. Some were carrying stuff in their arms, others had nothing but the clothing on their backs. But they were all running as fast as they could away from the plums of black smoke. In the crowd were a variety of people. A man with a walking stick, a woman and her kids, and a younger man with long curly hair holding a briefcase who tripped over only to get back on his feet and continue running.

...

In the Antares shuttle bay, Lee Adamas fighter was sitting in a corner as crew members helped him out of his damaged ship. As he stepped onto the deck, a man in civilian clothing came running from the entrance.

"Hello! lieutenant commander Adama? Hello my name is Aaron Doral. I just want to say how grateful everyone on the ship is that you came to our rescue."

"Like wise." Lee said as he surveyed the damage to his ship.

"Are you related to captain Adama?" Aaron asked.

Lee turned to look at him. "Yes. He's my father. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, it's just that we recently docked with his ship a few hours ago and I remember hearing his name."

Lee just gave a silent nod before returning to work. Aaron fallowed him.

"Sir, could I have a word with you because I would feel a whole lot better if someone like you who's more qualified were in charge around here."

"Is there something wrong with your captain?" Lee asked.

"No, it's just that he's not the one giving orders."

Lee turn back to him. "Maybe you should take me upstairs."

Aaron nodded and stared to lead Adama out when Lee became distracted by a peace of cargo.

"What is that?" Aaron asked.

"A warp coil from a federation ship. Where did you guys get this?"

"Like a said. We did stop at Galactica. It must be from your fathers ship. She was supposed to be decommissioned." Aaron said.

Lee looked at the old relic briefly before fallowing Aaron up a service latter to the passenger section were they came across Roslin talking with the ships crew.

"...so if we transfer the L container from bay three to bay four we could make even more room for passenger."

"That's a lot of heavy lifting without any dock loaders." The captain said.

"A little hard work is just what the people need." She said.

Then Roslin noticed Lee Adama in the room.

"Ah, lieutenant commander Adama, welcome aboard." She said.

"Thanks for the lift." Lee said shaking the hand of the captain.

"It's her you should thank." The captain said.

"Than thank you ms...?"

"Lora Roslin. On behalf of everyone aboard I would like to tell you how grateful we are that you found us." Lora said.

"It was nothing really."

"I am curious. How did you escape the initial attack?"

"Well I was on leave in Sacramento when the attack started. I managed to make it to the Oakland shipyards were I acquired a mothballed fighter and heeded out into the star system to see if I could find a starship. That's when I found your ship."

"I guess we should count ourselves lucky that you found us." She said before turning to the captain

"Go tell the others to prep bay three for survivors." Roslin said before the captain walked out of the room

"I'm sorry, survivors?" Lee said.

"When the attack started, the government ordered a shutdown of all commercial space lanes and shipping routes, so now we have thousands of ships stranded throughout the quadrant. Some are lost, some are damaged, some are without power. We have enough space on this ship to accommodate up to 500 people and we're going to need every bit of it."

"lieutenant, if you could I would like you to go over our navigation charts and find somewhere we can hid from the dominion." She said as she stood up and left.

Adama turned back to Aaron Doral. "Ladies in charge."

. . .

The crowd screamed as Karol Agathon fired his phaser pistol at the ground in front of them. The beam blasted a hole in the ground sending dirt flying.

"Everyone stay back! Just stay calm and no one gets hurt!" Karol yelled.

"Please, I'll give you 50 slips of gold Lanium!" Someone in the front of the crowd said.

"This is not a rescue ship! This is a Starfleet vessel! And we are not taking money!"

"You can't just leave us behind! What about the children!?" A woman asked.

"Yay, what about the children?!" Someone else said.

Karol started to protest when Sharon interrupted him. "All right, all right! Children first. Children." She said.

A dozen children from the group, several humans, two Andorrans, a Vulcan, and a bolion made their way to the shuttle, leaving the comfort of their parents for the last time.

"All right we can take six more adults." Sharon said as she checked the number of kids onboard."

"That's the maximum load we can take if we're going to break orbit with the power we have left."

"And who gets to decide them,You!?" Someone in the crowd yelled.

"No one gets to decide! We'll do a lottery. That way it will be fair."

"Now I will stun anyone who try's to get on board before that!" Karol said.

"Karol. You still have that paper journal of yours?" Sharon asked.

"Yay, why?"

"Just go and tear out some pages."

. . .

In Galactica's bridge the flashing lights and alarms indicated that the ship was at red alert.

"Launch the fighter squadron. Tell them to intercepted the three enemy attack ships bearing 056 Mark three at ten thousand kilometers! Helm, stand by evasive maneuvers and raise Shields!" Adama ordered.

Outside, two dozen federation fighters launched from the shuttle bay to intercept the pair of dominion ships approaching Galactica. The last ship to launch was Kara's ship. Just as it was about to lift off an alarm sounded.

"lieutenant Thrace. We've defected an overload in your impulse engines. Shutdown Immediately." lieutenant Dualla said from the bridge.

"Frak!" Kara swore as she jumped out of her damaged ship.

"Beg your pardon?" An engineer working on her ship said.

"Let's just say its a substitute for a word I'd rather not say out loud." Kara said. Nearby, Galen and some other engineers were looking at her ship."

"We need to pull this plasma valve and replace it." One engineer said.

"Replace it with what? We don't have any spares! And we don't have time to replicate any!" Galen said.

"We don't need to replace it. Just rewire these power conduits to bypass the valve and it should be fine." Engineer Kaily said.

"Are you kidding me! That would crate a feedback lope in the power grid. The reactor would blow!" Another engineer argued.

"It will be fine!" Kaily insisted.

"Look we don't have time! Just pull the valve!" Galen ordered.

Within a few seconds, Kara was back in her repaired ship flying towards the battle. Galactica's fighters were trying to get the upper hand against the three enemy ships by utilizing their smaller size and greater maneuverability. But as Kara entered the fight, one of the attack ships turned towards her ship and fired a strange purple beam at her ship. Kara watched as her flight computers fuzzed out for a moment.

"What the hell?!" She said when suddenly her computers returned to normal.

"Kara to Galactica. The jem'hadar ships are using some kind of electronic virus against me but it doesn't seem to be having any effect."

Kara turned and fired at the attack ship, strafing it as she flew over it causing major damage to its shields. Other fighters surrounded the enemy ship and fired at the crippled vessel. After several passes the jem'hadar ship exploded in a fireball.

"All fighters, systems are a go!" She yelled as she and the other fighters engaged the remaining ships. Several fighters lead by Kara tried to get closer to one of the ships. While evading enemy fire, an exploding torpedo rocked her ship. She managed to steady out.

"I'm fine, I'm good!"

But suddenly one jem'hadar ship made a break for the retreating Galactica. It fired three torpedoes at the starship.

"Sir, I'm reading tricobalt warheads from the three incoming torpedoes!" lieutenant Dualla said.

"Divert all power to port shields!" Adama ordered.

Kara fired her main weapons at the jem'hadar ship targeting its engines. Her phaser fire tore through its shields and hit the warp drive. The ship instantly exploded. Then she targeted the torpedoes. She brought the first one down, then the second. But the third, which had gained a substantial lead, was too far away. Realizing it would impact before she could reach it she flipped her fighter over an hit the accelerator to get clear of the blast radius.

"Galactica, you have a tricobalt warhead inbound! All pilots break, break, break!"

"Brace for impact." Adama said.

"Haven't heard that in while." Tigh responded.

The missile continued until it made contact with Galactica's port shields. There was a bright flash of light that consumed the ship as the warhead detonated.

. . .

Kara's ship did a quick flyby of the damaged starship, taking notice of the burning section on the port side of the secondary hull.

"Galactica, this is lieutenant Thrace. There is heavy damage all along the port side of the star drive section. Repeat you've got several fires and hull breaches from section 34 to 40 on deck 28. Galactica, do you read me?"

On Galactica's bridge, people were starting to get on their feet.

"Radiation levels within norms. The shields are offline but they kept out most of the hard stuff." Tigh said as he checked the damage report.

"Sir, port stern thrusters are locked open, all bow thrusters non-responsive. We're in an uncontrolled, lateral counter-clockwise spin." Mr. Gaeta reported from his station.

"Send a DC party up to ox control and have them cut all the fuel lines to the stern thruster." Adama said.

"Okay, we have got buckle supports all along the port side near main engineering, and plasma fires breaking out everywhere forward of frame 2- 250." Tigh reported.

"That's a problem. Saul, take personal command of the DC units."

"Me?"

"Sir, the stern thruster's still locked open. We need you." Mr Gaeta said from the other side of the bridge.

"You're either the XO or you're not." Adama said.

"Sir." Tigh said, accepting the order.

In the damaged area, ensign Prosna was helping other damage control personnel through the burning hallway when the walls started to creak and finally gave way to the vacuum of space. Only a force field prevented the oxygen from escaping. But then even the force field began to show signs of degrading. The ensign tapped his com badge.

"Chief! The force fields, there losing power! We need help!"

"Report!" Tigh said to chief Galen

"We've got structural buckling all along this line. We've gotta get those fires out!" Galen said.

"I know! Fire suppressors are down, I'm trying to fight this fire with hand-held gear." lieutenant commander Aaron Kelly said.

"We've got another plasma fire just one section away from the warp core. Were trying to contain it but Internal force fields are offline and we barley have enough power for the force fields sealing the hull breach." The chief said.

"What are your orders sir?"

Tigh looked over to see captain Adama working with Mr. Gaeta, unable to help him.

"All right listen chief, I need you to get the rest of your DC teams down from the shuttle bay, give them a..."

"No time! Seal off everything forward of section 30 and deactivate the force fields. The lack of oxygen will extinguish the fires." Tigh ordered.

"But wait, I've got over a hundred people trapped in the effected area, I just need a minute to get 'em out!"

"We don't seal it off now, the fire will hit main engineering and we're going to lose a lot more than a hundred men. Seal it off, now."

"But we can eject the core until the fires are out! We can use the transporters to beam everyone out!"

"Core eject systems are locked, and I'm not getting power to the transporter." Kelly said.

"But they just need a minute!"

"We don't have a minute! The fire reaches the warp core, it'll ignite the deuterium fuel and we'll lose the ship. Do it!" Tigh barked.

Tyrol just stared in shock before activating the intercom. "All hands. Seal off... all bulkheads, 25 through 40. That's an order."

On the lower decks men struggled to evacuated the damaged areas of the ship. But they were too late as the containment fields deactivated exposing half the deck to open space. Dozens of crew members were sucked into the vacuum. At the same time the raging plasma fires were extinguished due to lack of oxygen.

"Venting complete. Fires out."

"If they remembered their training, then they had their suits on and they were braced for possible vent action." Tigh said.

"There's a lot of rooks in there."

"No one's a rook anymore."

. . .

"Number one two seven." Sharon called out. A woman raised her hand in the crowd before walking forward.

"Here. Thank god. Thank you, thank you."

"Last one. 47. 47." Sharon said.

As Karol scanned the crowed he noticed a man he recognized.

"Hey. Aren't you Gaius Baltar?"

"Yeah, I haven't done anything." The man said nervously before pointing to an old woman next to him.

"This lady has ticket number 47. This lady here."

"Could you come up here, please." Karol asked.

Baltar and the old woman walked to the shuttle.

"What are you doing?" Sharon asked.

"I'm giving up my seat." Karol said.

"Like hell."

"A civilian should take my place."

"You're going." Sharon said as her eyes started watering.

"Look at those clouds. Sharon, look at those clouds, and tell me this isn't the end of everything."

"But Karol."

"Whatever future is left is gonna depend on whoever survives. Give me one reason why I'm a better choice than one of the greatest minds of our time."

"Karol." Sharon protested as tears started running down her cheeks like streams.

"You can do this without me. I know you can, you've proven it."

She closed her eyes and looked away. "Get on board!" She said to Baltar and the old woman.

The two people entered the airlock as the people in the crowd began to yell.

"I think you better go." Karol said as he tried to hold off the advancing crowd. Sharon boarded the ship and took the pilots seat.

"Stay back! Stay back! It's over, it's over!" Karol said to the crowd as the runabouts thrusters activated with a roar and the ship started to leave the ground. One man in the crowd ran up to the ship and grabbed ahold of the port warp engine. Karol raised his phaser and fired a burst. The stun beam hit the man in the chest causing him to let go of the ship and fall to the ground. Other people ran to help him as the ship gained altitude. Karol looked up at Sharon through the cockpit window and waved goodby. She waved back just before the ship picked up speed heading out into space.


	3. Chapter 3 our solum hour

Part 3: our solum hour

**Four hours from earth**

Roslin, Lee Adama, and the captain were on the bridge listening to a message they had just picked up.

_"This is an official Federation counsel broadcast. All counsel members and officials should now go to Case Orange. Repeat: This is an official Federation counsel broadcast. All counsel members and officials should now go to Case Orange."_

"It's an automated message. It's designed to be sent out in case the president, the vice president and most of the federation counsel members are dead or incapacitated." Laura said to the captain.

"I need you to send my ID code back on the exact same frequency. D as in dog, dash 456 dash 345 dash A, as in apple. Thank you." She said before turning and walking out into the passenger section fallowed by Lee.

"How far down?" The Starfleet officer asked as the two of them sat down.

"43rd in line of succession. I know all 42 ahead of me from the President down. Most of us served with him in the first administration. Some of them came with him from the San Francisco Mayor's office. I was there with him on his first campaign. I never really liked politics; I kept telling myself I was getting out, but... he had this way about him."

"Message for you." The captain said as he exited the bridge. He handed Roslin a data PAD.

"Thank you." Laura said as she read the PAD then put her jacket on.

"We need a judge."

...

In the main cabin a female member of the bajoran judicial department named Elosha prepared to swear Roslin into office as other passengers held out their holo-cameras to record the transition into office.

"Please raise your right hand and repeat after me." She said. "I, Laura Roslin."

"I, Laura Roslin." Laura said on the verge of tears.

"Do now avow and affirm."

"Do now avow and affirm."

"That I take the office of the President of the United Federation of planets."

"That I accept the office of the - That I accept the office of the President of the United Federation of planets."

"And that I will protect the Federation and defend its humanitarian principles."

"And that I will protect the Federation and defend its humanitarian principles."

"With every fiber of my being."

"With every fiber of my being."

...

In section 30 of Galactica, chief Tyrol stood in the burnt hallways of the ship as he looked out through the massive hull breach on the side of the hallway. The body's had all been beamed back to the ship once transporters had been restored but the chief fell he had a duty to stand at the spot were those men had lost their lives.

...

In Galactica's bridge, Adama was observing the damage reports with Tigh.

"How many did we lose?" Adama asked.

"Twenty-six walked out. Eighty-five didn't." They looked at each other before Tigh continued.

"There's a unmanned supply depot at Mutara nebula."

"Oh, pardon me but it's a super bitch to anchor a ship there." Adama said

Well, the book says that there are fifty photon torpedo warheads and four tricobalt devices in storage there. They should also have all the equipment we'll need to reactivate our phaser banks and basic food and medical supply's to last us a few months."

"We'll verify that."

"Yes sir."

...

Cally was siting in the damaged part of the ship crying over the burnt body of ensign Prosna as the chief helped her move it to another location.

...

"Do you know how many we lost?" The chief asked Captain Adama up in the bridge.

"Yes. Set up a temporary morgue in hanger bay 2." He responded."

"Forty seconds sir, that's all I needed. Eighty five of my people. Now I told... I told that son of a bitch-"

Adama quickly turned to the chief with stern look on his face. "He's the XO of this ship, is that clear? He had a tough decision to make. If it was me I would have done the same thing."

"Fourth seconds." The chief said quietly before leaving for the turbo-lift. Seconds later Tigh walked up with a data PAD in hand.

"Supply depot confirmed, but we have two problems. One, the Mutara station is on the other side of the quadrant and would take at least three days at maximum warp to get there. Two, the entire dominion fleet is between here and there."

"Specialist." Adama called out. A young Vulcan crew member walked up.

"Sir."

"Bring me our position."

"Yes, sir."

"You don't want to do this." Tigh said when it finally hit him what Adama intended to do.

"I know I don't."

"Because any sane man wouldn't. It's been, what, ten years since the drives were installed and we haven't used them since?"

"We trained for this."

"Training is one thing, but - if we're off in our calculations by even a few degrees, we could end up in the middle of a star."

"No choice. Colonel Tigh, please plot a quantum slipstream jump from our position to the Mutara anchorage."

"Yes sir." Tigh said as Dualla walked up to the captain with a PAD and tears in her eyes.

"Priority message, sir." She said.

"Engineering, spin up slipstream drives one and two." Tigh ordered.

"Spinning up slipstream drives one and two." The officer said.

"Lieutenant Gaeta, break out the slipstream navigational computers and charge up the deflector. We are making a jump."

"Captain Jean-Luc Picard is dead." Adama said as he read the PAD given to him by Dualla. Everyone on the bridge looked a Adama with looks of absolute disbelief and horror.

"The USS Enterprise has been destroyed. Along with the starships: Thunderchild, Voyager, Defiant, Prometheus... The list goes on."

"Who's the senior officer? Who's in command?" Tigh asked.

Adama turned back to Dualla. "Send a message to all remaining Starfleet units. Message begins. Am taking command of fleet."

...

In space, the Antares was flying close to three other ships. One was an Oberth class science vessel the Sea of Tranquility. The second vessel was a cargo vessel the Demetrius. The third vessel was a whale shaped passenger ship that was dead in space.

"Liner-72381, this is s.s. Antares registry number NC-798." The captain said before making an obvious correction.

"No, strike that. This is NC-1."

"Go ahead, NC-1." The captain of the liner responded.

"We have you in sight. We'll approach your starboard docking hatch."

"Copy that Antares. Thank god you're here. We've been without main power for over two hours now." The second pilot said.

As the two captains exchanged words Lee Adama, who was manning the operations post, received a message. He read out the message to Laura Roslin who was siting in the back of the bridge.

"To all Federation units: Am taking command of fleet. All ships ordered to rendevouz at Mutara supply depot for regroup and counter-attack. Acknowledge by same, encryption protocol Adama." Lee said reading the last word with dread.

"Lieutenant commander Adama, please inform Commander Adama that we are currently involved in rescue operations in sector 03 and we require his assistance. Ask him how many bio beds he has available in his sickbay and how long it will take him to get here." Roslin asked

"I, uh -" Lee said not sure how to put his concerns into words.

"Yes?" Laura said.

"I'm not sure he's gonna respond very well to that request."

"Then tell him this comes directly from the President of the United Federation of Planets, and it's not a request.

"Yes, sir. And sir? Adama is just my last name. My first name is Lee.

"I know who you are. But the name Adama has a nice ring to it, don't you think?" She said as she left the bridge.

...

Adama stood at the operations station looking at the message that was sent to the ship with disbelief.

"Is this a joke?" He said before turning to Dualla.

"Are they within voice range?" He asked. She nodded. She tapped several controls to hail the Antares.

"Antares, this is the federation starship Galactica. lieutenant commander Lee Adama please contact Galactica immediately." The young officer said through the headset. The speakers were quiet until Lee Adamas voice came through.

"This is Lee Adama go ahead Galactica."

Dualla handed the captan the earpiece for him to talk to his son personally.

"Yay are you-is your ship all right?" He said.

"Were both fine thanks." Lee said.

"Is your warp drive functional?" The captain asked.

On the other end Lee got an ok from Antares captain that the warp drive was indeed operational despite the hiccup from before.

"That's Affirmative." He said.

"Good. Then you are ordered to take yourself and your passengers and head towards the Mutara nebula. acknowledge."

Lee hesitated before answering. "Acknowledge-receive of message Galactica."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Captain Adama angrily said.

"It means I heard you." His son said.

"You need to do a lot better than that."

"We are engaged in rescue operations."

"You are to abort your mission immediately and proceed to Mutara."

"The President has given me a direct order."

"We're in the middle of a war, and you're taking orders from a schoolteacher?"

In the Antares an alarm sounded from a computer.

"We've got trouble." The captain said.

"Stand by, Galactica - What?" Lee asked.

"Inbound dominion fighters at high warp." The captain said pointing to the sensor readings.

"How long till they get here?"

"ETA two minutes."

"My father was right, we have to go now." Lee said regretfully."

"No." Roslin said.

"Madame President, we cannot defend this ship -"

"Its like you said, we cannot abandoned these people."

"That was before we had jem'hadar ships closing in. If we stay-"

"I've made my decision, lieutenant." She said not backing down.

"You're the President."

"All right then."

"Permission to go below?" He asked.

...

"Sir, we are receiving telemetry from lieutenant commander Adamas position." Lieutenant Geata stated.

"Put it on the main view screen." Captain Adama ordered. Seconds later a tactical image showing the civilian ships and the jem'hadar fighters appeared. The two warships were getting closer and closer.

Onboard the Antares, Lee ran below to the cargo hold and started messing with the controls to the warp coil brought aboard from Galactica.

On Galactica's bridge Adama tried desperately to contact The ship.

"This is Galactica. Lieutenant? You have inbound enemy fighters coming towards you. Get out of there! Adama?! Adama?! Lee, get - Lee!" But it was no use. The tactical display showed the fighters launching a weapon at the civilian fleet before jumping to warp. Seconds later and a white light engulfed the ships as they were supposedly destroyed.

"Fifty isoton tricobalt detonation. jem'hadar moving off, sir." Geata said.

Captain Adama stared at the view screen for several seconds not wanting to believe what just happened. His son, his only remaining son was dead. As he stood there, Tigh walked up to comfort his friend. Adama was quiet for several seconds before slowly turning to the bridge crew.

"Resume jump prep." He ordered.

"Resume jump prep." Tigh repeated louder.

...

**Shuttle bay two**

Kara Thrace climbed out of the cockpit of her ship after she and the other fighters landed. Chief Tyrol walked up to the ship horrified.

"lieutenant, what did you do to my ship?!" He said.

Kara look over to the fighter to see that most of the left side impulse engine cowling had been ripped off, exposing power conduits and other important systems.

"No wonder the engine gave out." She said.

"Honestly I'm not sure how you were able to fly this thing much less land it." Tyrol said.

"Well that's something I'd rather not think about. Where's ensign Prosna? He needs to look at the navigational computer or I'll have his head on a plater." She said. But Tyrol just looked away pretending to work on an engine part.

"He's dead- he died in the fires."

"How many people did we lose?"

"Eighty-five."

Kara was quiet before turning to leave.

"Oh, lieutenant. I don't know if you heard about Lee but-"

"What about him?" Kara said with concern.

"Well um-" Tyrol started to say but Kara could tell what he was thinking.

"Oh, got it." She said. "Still no word from Sharon or Karl?" She asked.

Tyrol shook his head in disappointment. Kara, wanting to be alone, left the bay for her room.

"Chief, are you ok?" Cally asked Tyrol from her workstation after seeing him standing at the same spot, his thoughts on Sharon and wether she would be ok.

"Get back to work." He ordered as he broke from his trance and walked over to the damaged ship to work.

...

T**wo light years outside the Kuiper belt. T plus six hours**

"Launching probe in three,two,one...deploy." Sharon said as she activated the communication probe to send out a distress signal.

"Now they'll come and find us?" One of the kids who was siting in the front said.

"There's a lot of interference around here. Lotta noise. Keeps my subspace transponder from working. Hopefully, once that communications probe I launched gets far enough away from here, a starship will pick up the signal and start looking for us."

"Is everyone on earth dead?" The kid asked.

"I don't know."

"My dad's a commander on the Lexington. They told me he's missing, but I think he's dead too."

"You know something? Both my parents died when I was little too." She said.

"Who do you live with then?"

"A bunch of other people on a ship called the Galactica."

In the rear cabin, Gaius Baltar was siting with the other people allowed onboard. At this point he couldn't decide weather to be grateful for being rescued or be terrified of what these people would do to him when they figured out that he was the cause of the attack. That his lover was actually a shapshifter and that she used his access codes to infiltrate Starfleet security systems. As he pondered this he noticed the image of his lover siting right in front of him wearing a red dress.

"You know what I love about you, Gaius? You're a survivor." She said to him. No one else seemed to notice her. Gaius looked around to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. But when he turned back she was gone.

...

"Captain, all decks report ready for slipstream jump." Mr. Geata reported.

"Take us to Mutara commander." Adama ordered.

"lieutenant Geata, set a course for the Mutara Nebula and engage the quantum slipstream drive." Tigh barked.

Mr. Geata taped the control console to activated the ship wide intercom. "All decks, brace for slipstream jump." He said. When he was finished the helm officer typed in the flight path for the ship and began the countdown.

"Jump in five, four, three,-"

In main engineering all the crew members were ether siting down or holding on to something. Cally had taken a seat at one of the diagnostic computers.

"I hate this part." She said to herself.

"-Two, one, jump." The officer finished before imputing the order to engage the drives. It was Immediately fallowed by a deep humming sound that got louder and louder. Suddenly the view screen showed a large glowing vortex open up in front of the ship. With a surge of speed, Galactica entered the aperture.

"Slipstream corridor is stable. Deflector power is balanced. Everything looks good commander." Mr. Geata said.

"ETA to the Nebula?" Tigh asked.

"Five minutes sir."

All they could do was wait as the ship continued on its way at near transwarp speeds. Then after what felt like an eternity Mr. Geata called out.

"Arrival in five, four, three, two, one."

Then as quickly as it had begun the slipstream corridor began to dissolve around the ship until the Galactica finally reemerged into normal space. Everyone held their breath as lieutenant Geata began to scan the space around them. And everyone took a deep breath when Geata finally announced the good news.

"We appear to be in geosynchronous orbit directly above the Mutara Nebula." He said.

Many people on the bridge began to clap at the first good news they had in many hours.

"Colonel Tigh?" Adama said.

"Sir?"

"Plot us a course through the nebula to the station."

"Yes sir."


End file.
